Chapter 108

The Monster's Time

November 25th, 2059

Escape was exactly what they were expecting him to do. He could use his skills to force the door open, but they'd be waiting. He stayed where he was.

Of course Leo didn't sleep. Images of the dead kept going through his mind. In the past, he'd thought of suicide many times. But if he could influence one person in this hopeless situation, save even one life, he owed it to them to at least try. Besides, he'd be dead soon enough.

When he died, one of two things would happen. Either he'd go back in time again and get another chance, or he'd go wherever dead people went when they died. As long as he was with his family, friends, and comrades, it didn't matter where.

The next morning, the door to Leo's cell opened. He stayed where he was, not sure what to expect.

“Please come out, Leo, or I'll have to drag you.” It was Damien over the intercom.

Leo left his cell, not sure what to expect. The hallway was empty, so he walked down the hall to the guard post. There, the guards spent most of their time hanging out, watching monitors while playing games, or watching their small TV.

Today, Leo's human guards were doing none of those things. Instead, they stood next to ten people Leo had never met.

Five observation drones hovered in the air, surrounding Leo as he approached. All the humans looked terrified.

Ryan and Ben looked as frightened as the rest. “Sorry,” Ryan mouthed.

Damien floated off to the side, looking pleased with himself. “Let me tell you how this goes down. Leo Edwards, the cold-blooded monster that he is, waits for his followers, the Lightning Death Squad, to kill all the implant wearers suppressing his implant skills. At that point, he breaks down the door to his cell and makes his escape, killing the guards as he does so.”

“Suppose he just immobilizes the guards, knocks them out?” An acne-faced young man asked.

“Absolutely not,” Damien responded. “Leo Edwards is a monster, and he sees these traitor filth guards, and he grabs a knife or machete and he goes crazy on those poor bastards.”

Oh shit. Leo knew what was coming next. He mouthed “run” at the guards, then activated his time freeze skill, shield, and melee weapon skill, mentally forming a mace and swinging it at Damien with all his speed and strength.

His attack would have killed any human, hell, any elephant, but Damien barely felt it.

“No! Bad Leo! Stop that!” Damien picked Leo up and slammed him against the floor, again and again. Leo saw stars, breath knocked out of him.

When Leo raised his head to see what was going on, he wished he hadn't

Leo watched in slow motion, thanks to time freeze, as the guards shot at Damien, doing even less damage than Leo had.

While Damien pinned Leo to the ground, he also slashed at the guards with his whiplike tentacles.

“Please! I have two grandkids! I'm all they've got!” Ben screamed in slow motion, trying to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood from many deep cuts. Ryan was alive and moving, but unable to speak because of his slit throat. If he was using his new implant to defend himself, Leo saw no sign of it.

And then it was over. The guards lay dead as Damien floated overhead, admiring his handiwork. “Look at that. Leo went crazy on those poor guards. I want footage of this at every angle, closeups of every drop of blood. I want the entire world to know what a monster Leo is. No offense, Leo, it's nothing personal, but this needs to happen. I want footage of Leo attacking these poor guards. You can do that, right?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Yes, sir,” the young man responded. “Give me the computer time and I can do anything.”

“That's what I want to hear. I want Leo to look scary, dangerous. I want small kids to run and hide when they see his picture.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So what happens next?” Damien asked himself, dragging Leo over to the dead guards, using his tentacles to splatter Leo with the guard's blood, taking one of the dead guard's combat knives and forcing it into Leo's hand. “Leo is splattered with blood, holding a bloody knife. He makes his way out of this filthy, Ascended One run city.” Damien dragged Leo down the hall. “Trailing blood of the poor guards he killed.” Damien dragged Leo to a balcony overlooking the desert. “Leo comes to a balcony.”

Damien's film crew followed as Damien dragged Leo to a balcony looking out over the desert. “Leo sees the balcony to freedom, and he jumps!” Damien wrapped his tentacles around Leo and the ten humans from the film crew, and jumped from the balcony, taking Leo and the film crew down to the desert.

The desert was still cool from the morning, but Leo could tell it was heating up quickly. Many Ascended Ones floated above them, watching. Leo recognized Ambrose, but none of the others.

Damien floated around excitedly. “Leo escapes! Using his implant skills to jump from the balcony, fleeing into the desert.” Damien tosses a blood-stained pack to Leo. “Here's a pack with food and water that you stole from the poor guards you killed. You have two hours to make a run for it. You have my word that we won't come for you before the two hours are up. If you get away, you get away. We achieve our objective regardless.”

Leo walked on the red sands. The desert was beautiful. He looked at the pack he held, then turned away and sat on a nearby rock.

He thought of the dead guards; the man he'd killed for a rabbit in his previous life, leaving a child without a father; the little girl he hadn't been strong enough to protect, so he'd abandoned her to die. All the decent people of his past life he'd killed to survive or let die because he was weak. He felt sad. Why did the aliens have to send him back? Not only hadn't he saved the world, but he might have made the world worse. “You do what you have to do. I've been running my whole life, and I'm tired.”

Damien waited silently for several minutes. Leo stayed where he was.

Damien floated over to Leo, looking down at him. “Are you sure? How about a day? I'll give you a whole day to escape before we come for you.”

“I told you,” Leo responded. “I'm tired.” He pulled a bottle of water from the pack and took a drink.

Damien floated back to his film crew. “I'm thinking he makes a run for it, but I catch up. I don't want to kill him, but Leo is such a monster and we need to stop the killing and I have to! Then I bring him back from the desert and we place him in a tomb, so everyone knows the monster is dead.”

“Yes, sir,” the young, acne-faced man said. “We have more than enough footage of Leo to create computer-generated imagery of him doing whatever you want, sir.”

“Excellent,” Damien responded, patting the young man on the back with his tentacles.

“Uh, and sir?” the young man said. “I don't suppose you could get me and my family the 'don't eat me' bracelets you promised? I'd be very grateful.”

“I'll put it this way,” Damien responded. “If you make this happen for me, I'll make that happen for you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“See, Leo, we're not going to eat you. The Ascended Ones do not eat every human we come across.” Damien floated over to Leo. “It should be clear by now that you've lost the war. There may be a few implant wearers in hiding, but not enough to pose a threat.”

Silence. Leo didn't respond.

Damien chuckled. “But your losing the war is a good thing, Leo. In this new world order, there will be no more war, no famine. The Ascended Ones will take care of the excess human population, and in a few generations, they'll worship us as gods. It will be an honor to be eaten by us.”

Leo chuckled. “There is one threat I don't think you're aware of.”

“The aliens?” Damien asked.

“No. Your kind,” Leo responded. “In my previous life, your kind killed more of each other than the implant wearers. I bet other Ascended Ones are plotting against you right now.”

“I know,” Damien said. “I have my coalition for protection. Don't worry about me, Leo, I'll be fine.”

With no warning, Damien slashed down with a tentacle, cutting deep into Leo's neck, severing arteries, causing Leo to collapse on the desert sand and bleed to death in seconds.

Leo's last thoughts were of Lydia and the friends he'd let down and his hopes of seeing them soon.

Leo died.

Again.

No this is not the end.